Jackie Philip | David Ralph Simpson | Diana Matthews FRSA

5 - 29 October 2018 

New Paintings
 

As Autumn sets in, this exhibition brings together three contrasting artists whose colour palettes remember a wonderful summer and point to a change of season. Jackie Philips’ still-lifes carry a vibrancy of colour and luminosity that are characteristic of her handling of raw pigment on canvas. A postgraduate of the Royal Academy Schools, Jackie Philip has exhibited and taught around the world. With bold, sweeping brushstrokes, the latest paintings of David Ralph Simpson, chart the artist’s travels in the south of England. This collection of gestural paintings by this most popular artist, who comes from a modernist tradition, shows a handling of paint that has been conveyed with relish and immediacy. Diana Matthews, who trained at Bath Academy of Arts in the 1950’s, continues her practice of building beautifully textural compositions with layers that seem to have somehow collected whispers of the marks left by this artist’s tutors, including the likes of Anthony Fry and William Scott.

Jackie Philip, born in 1961 in Edinburgh, studied Fine Art at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, at Wimbledon School of Art, London and at The Royal Academy Schools, London from 1978 - 1986. She attained a BA 1st Class Honours and MFA. Since completing her postgraduate studies, she has been painting full time as a professional artist and lectured in London, Florence and Auckland. Jackie has exhibited widely abroad and in the UK and her paintings can be found in both corporate and private collections in the UK, Italy, Barbados, the Americas, Hong Kong and Australasia.

Born 1963 in Plymouth, David Ralph Simpson studied Fine Art at Newcastle University in 1985. David Ralph Simpson has held regular solo exhibitions in London and galleries across England since 1987. His work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. David Ralph Simpson has undertaken commissioned projects for Land Securities, London 2005, Glyndebourne Opera 2004, Glyndebourne Opera 2000, Exeter City Council 1995, Television South West 1989 and the Royal School for the Deaf, Exeter 1988. Prizes include Bridport Open Prize 1994, Laing Competition 1994 & ’90 and Brewhouse Open 1986. His work can be found in private collections throughout Europe and the United States of America.

Born in Guildford in 1935, Diana Matthews studied Fine Art at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham from 1954 – 1956. Here she was trained by William Scott as well as visiting lecturers including Antony Fry, Peter Lanyon, Bryan Winter, Adrian Heath and Gillian Ayres.  She went on to teach art at various secondary schools. In 1985 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art. It was only when Diana retired in 1995 that she was able to concentrate fully on painting full-time and to focus on painting still life and abstract work. Diana Matthews has exhibited regularly in London and the South West including at 20/21 Royal College of Art (2014), Islington Art Fair (2013), Bath Art Society (2005/06/09/10/11/13), Olympia Decorative and Contemporary Art Fair (2011), Battersea Park Decorative and Contemporary Art Fair (2011/12), Art London (2011), Royal West of England Academy (2007/08), and Royal Society of British Artists (2007/11). Represented by David Simon Contemporary, Bath since September 2014.